The way I see it

It’s been a while since I’ve jotted down my thoughts here, and I apologize for that but, my life can often distract from my own wants, wishes, and even dreams. After all, the work I’m most known for requires an extreme amount of sacrifice and an unprecedented level of selflessness.

What I ultimately want to accomplish out of this blog is to present an even deeper level of transparency with how I personally feel and perceive the world after visiting children in such vulnerable and compromising situations, which in turn leaves me completely vulnerable as well. The translation between what has happened the last 5 years (and continues to happen) behind the mask of Spider-Man and what I share in a journal-like format here is so important to me. My Facebook, Instagram, and social media in general serve as great platforms to leave behind the legacies of children who fight and children who’ve died fighting. This blog is different because it’s a piece of my story and legacy (told straight from the source) which I have every intention on leaving behind but, why’s that so important to me?

In my eyes, if we aren’t utilizing our own personal human experience and taking everything we’ve learned while navigating the treacherous terrain of chasing down our goals to pass down what we’ve gathered to the generations after us, then what are we really doing? The idea is to reset the starting point in which the next generation begins because I dont want your kids to start from the same place we did. Sorta like passing the baton except in this case, we run in a straight line and not a circle, constantly just repeating history over and over again. I never wanted my life to be a broken record of those that lived before me.

The deeper I stepped into the lives of sick and dying children, the more my own philosophy and perception of the world has come to life. Thinking locally is like living in a snow globe. Thinking globally still has its boundaries but, thinking spiritually from an almost 3rd and even 4th person perspective has changed everything in how I live life. If perception is reality, I dont live on the same planet everyone else does.

I’ve studied certain individuals in history who have been responsible for the greatest amounts of change and have accomplished all of it in a peaceful manner. Martin Luther king jr., Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Pope Francis, and even Jesus (both as the son of God and as a historical figure) just to name of few. Their stories, their struggles, their vulnerability (even as powerful figures), and their devotion to see their respective missions through has helped me both strategically take steps forward within my mission and breathe as a mortal human being. That’s why the breadcrumbs to my legacy are important to leave behind. For all the future game changers to study and use to elevate and incorporate within their own greatness in giving.

To inspire and motivate real world kindness from the hearts of givers long after I’m gone is the long term goal.

Here’s to that and you.

-Ricky Mena